The Art of War
by weaponofmassiveconsumption
Summary: Discord, desperation, deriliction. The world is burnt to a crisp and consumed by a violent power-struggle between four factions. Yet, after a century of strife, peace may be restored by the unlikeliest of events: the return of Sozin's Comet. [AU] [Tyzula/Zucest] [Kataang] [Tokka] [Maizai/MaiJune] [WIP]
1. Chapter 1

" _Those who win become kings, those who fail, thieves."_

* * *

 _ **The Khatun Traitors**_

Azula loved the unforgiving dry heat, but did not love the idea of dying from thirst.

"Why are we running?" she asked softly. She spoke from the corner of her lip because she did not want her moderately sized legion of loyal and bloodthirsty traitors to hear her hesitance. They had believed in what she believed. They had to trust her even though she was the opposite of trustworthy.

Her brother replied, "We're not. We're hiding."

"That's worse," she hissed at her husband.

He did not have much to say to that, but she was staring at him, awaiting an answer.

Zuko said at last, "We don't need to get stuck between father and the Kishiko. You were the one who suggested letting them thin themselves out."

"I wasn't thinking Si Wong Desert when I said that," Azula snapped. She closed her eyes in attempt to keep the sand out, but it did not help. "Maybe a nice beach somewhere?"

"Do you want to turn back?" Zuko offered as if it were an option. Azula felt an angry acid eating away at her; he was not easy to travel alongside.

"No. We don't have much of a choice," Azula said with full knowledge that her word was law.

"You had the choice to stay," Zuko said. He _always_ said that and she was tired of it.

As she always replied, "I wanted to leave as much as you did. Don't flatter yourself."

Zuko looked her up and down. Sibling rivalry died hard. However, the ring that was once on her finger melted easily.

"Do you have a plan for what happens when we can't hide?" he asked, his voice half-lost in the coarse wind.

Azula smirked. "Oh, I have a plan. I'm sending a messenger hawk to collect a favor."

"From her, right?" Zuko did not like the fire burning his insides. Ty Lee was too kind and naïve to hate, but he hated how Azula was around her. They would destroy each other and take him with them. Azula said he was just jealous. Azula always lies.

"Yes," Azula said. She watched her brother's sour expression with pleasure.

"What exactly does she owe you for again?" he coldly demanded.

"Nothing. She's just generous," Azula mocked, her smirk consuming more of her face now. She was very pretty to her husband when she was not looking at him like that.

"You've never told me. What if we die of thirst?" Zuko sardonically replied.

"Fine. She owes me for five gold pieces, three years ago," Azula explained. She was honest about that debt.

Zuko's eyebrows shot up. "That's impressive. You've been collecting way more than that's worth."

"I know. But she might as well own Caldera, and we can never go back there." Azula nearly shivered at the thought of what Azulon would do to them. It would not be as bad as Ozai, but they were traitors to him as well.

"You _have_ been promising a lot of people that they'll one day return to the homeland." The homeland was a joke, but Azula _could_ talk it up to be something other than ghost towns and burnt forests.

"You may or may not have noticed, but I am a liar."

Her smirk faded as the sand stung her eyes.

 _ **The Kishiko Tribals**_

Far away from the Si Wong Desert, a funeral had just ended.

"He was supposed to lead us," said Katara to her brother. She was not crying, but her voice was tight with the emotion surging through her veins. Tonight was the worst of her entire life.

Her father was just buried. Stones stacked over earth. The bodies didn't freeze in the Scorched Land like they did in the South Pole. Therefore, the funeral felt _wrong_. Sokka did not seem as bothered; he led it, even though Bato laid the cairns.

"I'm going to get help for the fight," Sokka said, as if he had a right to even suggest leaving.

"No. Who leads us? _Me_? I don't … It's not my war." Katara knew her arguing was silly and she would have to take up the mantle, but it was supposed to be _Sokka's_ burden, not hers.

"It wasn't dad's war either," Sokka snapped. "Or Gran-Gran's before him. Fire Lord Sozin started it and it's nobody's but his."

"Where'd you go anyway? Who will you find a week before we reach the Ires?"

"I'm going to the Horitsu. General Iroh helped dad in the past," Sokka said as if it were a visit for tea. Katara loathed his overconfidence, especially when it could get him killed. He was all she had left.

Katara crossed her arms. "He helped dad defend Horitsu land. Huge difference."

"It's our only option," Sokka said.

"No. You're always going on and on about how our people are descended from _great warriors_ when you defend your stupid ponytail!"

"It's not stupid, and that's just talk. We're descended from great warriors about as much as that Khatun Princess is descended from dragons. We say that stuff because it makes people feel hopeful. You know about that. You're so preachy we can't even have tea without you going into—"

"I _believe_ the things I say about hope."

"Then inspire people with them. I'm giving the command to you, Katara. I don't know if I'm coming back and I want you to have it." He started walking away, as if ashamed of his own words.

Katara wanted to thank him, but she despised the gift.

She was a good leader. She got all the kids to play the games she wanted. Once, she organized an entire _play_ just by talking about it. Yet, she was not the kind of person who _wanted_ to lead people to _death_. She preferred standing back, learning to heal, learning to divert the pain of war.

So much for that.

So much for time for mourning.

There was time only for scrounging up enough morale to face the _Ires_.

 _ **The Ires Legion**_

Among gold tents, "Don't. Move," dryly said the teenage girl with her knife pressed to the throat of a boy who could not be more than ten.

"Let me go! Let me go!" He whined, despite being in the clutches of someone with several tattoos up the length of her arm. They signified battles won, and people much stronger than him slain. "Let me go! You're being awful!"

She released him and a smirk flickered on her face for a brief moment. It had faded by the time he turned to look at her, touching his neck defensively.

"Well, that was your test. You're not going to ride with them."

"That wasn't fair!"

"Oh, yeah, because tribals are going to knock loudly and give you warning before they slit your throat."

"You're lying. You just don't want me to go," whined the young boy.

"I don't want you to die. There's a difference. You don't have a name yet, much less the ability to kill people swinging clubs at you. Ice blades are worse than my darts," Mai said, but he was clearly not listening. "Maybe they'll get distracted and ruffle your hair instead of killing you."

"That's not funny. I'm not a child."

"Yes, you are, and I'm making this decision. You don't get to argue," Mai said. The boy did not want to listen to her, but she was the General and she got to choose which little girls and boys had to go fight and die for a hunk of cloth and a small gold crown.

"Is there a problem here?" drawled June, the most obnoxious soldier Mai has had the displeasure of working alongside.

Mai straightened her back and steeled her amber eyes. "No. My little brother is just going to go home and get ready for bed."

"The sun isn't even setting yet!" he exclaimed.

"I _know_. But you are very sleepy and that's why you're saying such ridiculous things."

If looks could kill. He did leave, after analyzing the two very intimidating women who were a full head taller than him.

"I was handling that," Mai said.

"I know. I didn't come to help you restrain that kid; I came to tell you that there's an urgent last minute meeting I'm not invited to, but I'm supposed to tell you about. As your – what is it I am? – lieutenant. Now, that's the word."

Mai left without another word. She never trained with June; June was older than her and wasn't born and raised in the Ires Legion like Mai was. June was a bounty hunter who saw riches in warfare and somehow claimed them.

June was assigned to work directly under Mai.

Mai wanted to slit the throats of whoever decided that was a good idea.

 _"She'll argue with you. That's a good thing. Having someone who doesn't protest allows you to make poor choices, having someone who protests allows you to make the best choices," said Ozai_.

Mai did not like arguments. Mai did not like most anything, but she liked people bowing and obeying her commands.

She turned back around and went to go find the war room tent.

 _ **The Horitsu Militia**_

She was their best soldier.

She was also barely thirteen.

Yet, the age was not the problem. Most kids went to war by that age. The problem was that she _knew_ she was their best soldier and squeezed everything she could possibly get out of that fact. Toph had a reputation of a maverick that no one could stop, because they needed her too much.

When she was young, she was born into a wealthy family. She hated them. When their city was sacked by the Ires Legion, the Horitsu Militia came to the rescue. Toph took out as many of the legion jerks as she could. . . and a couple of the jerks from her city too. When they saw what she could do despite her not being able to see it, they enlisted her within seconds.

She was bored, sparring with little interest in the match.

"Oi!" Jet's voice went away. "Oh, sorry, Toph. I thought you were Li. Must be the, uh, manly look you've got going on."

Toph spat before wiping her lip with her hand. "Oh, come on. Li couldn't have been fighting as good as me on his best day."

"Yeah, yeah. How often do you get mistaken for a man, Toph?" drawled Jet, because _of course_ he was going to try to look big in front of his friends.

She did not hesitate to answer, "How often do you?"

The others in the room laughed, the Boulder's guffaw the loudest. Toph was fighting him, and he could see her casual smirk. She liked the feeling of his racing heartbeat.

"Chief wants you to see him," Jet explained through clenched teeth.

"Well, he's out of luck," Toph jabbed proudly.

More laughter followed her comment. She _glowed_ but did not smile.

"He said it was important. Some Tribal just showed up on an ostrich-horse and he needs you," Jet said.

Toph shrugged and stepped down from the dirty sparring ring.

It sounded interesting enough.

 _ **The Khatun Traitors**_

Far across the sea in a gilded brothel, Ty Lee read the letter twice.

It certainly was not blunt, but it still stabbed like a sword when she read carefully. That might have been the opposite of bunt but she was no wordsmith. She just knew that it was every kind of treason to be doing this, yet… she was going to do it.

"Is it important?" asked her second in command. The poor girl had such high expectations and Ty Lee wished she could make a perfect world for the naiveté. Optimism, unfortunately, only went so far in a world at war.

"No," Ty Lee lied. "I just have to go think for a few… hours. Yeah, hours. You're in charge 'til I'm back. And stop putting up those flowers; it's _super_ bad luck this time of year. And doesn't match _at all_."

"Yes, of course," chimed her eager assistant.

She was considering something very drastic, and very stupid. Ty Lee stopped doing stupid things as soon as Azula betrayed traitors and Ty Lee was left in the dust. Here, in the smoggy cities of the faded, pathetic Fire Nation. At least she had nice clothes and decent soap.

Those two comforts would be lost to her if she did what she was contemplating.

Going not only to the Scorched Lands, but into the Si Wong Desert with a fleet of barbarians led by the traitor princess and prince was very inadvisable. Yet, Azula was not doing this _again_. Ty Lee was not just blindly enabling what would amount to suicide for her princess. Her _lady_. Her first love when they both were still part of the Legion.

Ty Lee crumpled the letter in her sweaty hand and wondered what she was supposed to do.

That afternoon, she learned what she was supposed to do by Fire Lord Azulon. He was not a powerful man, not like his father was. He had Caldera and a few cities of the Fire Nation that hadn't been dried up and abandoned by war.

 _I am the Lord of Ghosts, not Fire_ , he told her once, long ago.

"This is the perfect opportunity," Azulon rasped to the girl kneeling before his throne. "My grandchildren have the rightful claim to the throne, but everyone wishes to rule the world. They concern me. I would give you anything you asked if you were to observe them on my behalf."

"You'd want me to spy, your highness?" Ty Lee asked, her eyes to the floor.

"Yes. Yes, I do," Azulon said.

Ty Lee loved Azula, and she had always loved Azula. She would do anything for that girl. . . yet Ty Lee had been just as hardened by the years. Her desires overwhelmed her love. Azula _did_ use her far too often and it would not be like spying for the Ires.

She accepted Azulon's offer, and he secured her safe passage to the Scorched Lands.

Ty Lee thought about cartwheels and first kisses, even though she knew Azula saw her as a tile in her game.

Maybe, however, Azula had not forgotten.

Ty Lee was an optimist, even in times as dark as these.

 _ **The Kishiko Tribals**_

Katara did not like the honor bestowed upon her. She had no qualms about swearing her allegiance to protecting her people – and she was a strong enough bender to earn the title – but she knew that protecting them would mean killing others.

She finished her pledge breathlessly. She was certain she forgot to breathe while reciting, kneeling before a Water Sage. He gently poured the chilly water over her, and she could feel centuries of war dripping onto her head, clotting in her hair.

It was her war now.

She warmed herself by the campfire after the drinking and eating ended. They went from a funeral to a celebration of Katara too quickly. It felt wrong, but Katara partook all she could in the party. Her people deserved to have fun, to dance, to enjoy each other before the rapidly approaching battle with the Ires Legion.

Only Yue sat beside her.

"Do you think the Avatar is out there?" Katara asked Yue. She received an awkward smile in response; it was the expression of someone who pitied her for having hope. "They could be. We don't know."

"You're right," Yue said honestly. There _was_ the possibility of a living, breathing Avatar who merely was in no position to save the world. Or perhaps the Avatar did not want to save them – perhaps they were doomed because of their own actions and they deserved to fight this war.

No, Yue did not think that. Or at least, she tried not to think that.

"Maybe we should look," Katara said.

"A lot of people have."

"I'm not _a lot of people_." Katara stood and walked away.

She could feel all eyes in the camp focused on her, their new leader, as she walked to her tent.

 _ **The Khatun Traitors**_

"She said no, didn't she?" Zuko asked, sitting down in front of the fire beside Azula.

Her gaze was fixated on the letter and the campfire kept sparking blue. He once would have never gone to her when she was angry, but he was long past feeling fear. That was why she liked him.

"She did as I said. But she also said that she is coming to join us."

"Ty Lee couldn't survive here after three years being pampered and pretty in Caldera."

"Probably not. I do not believe I am changing her mind."

"Do you admit defeat?" Zuko asked.

Azula was thrown off by his comment, but she caught herself. "No. Yes. I am strong enough to admit defeat, if the situation required it." This situation, in her opinion, did not require it.

"You always say you're never defeated."

"I _am_ never defeated. I can lose battles but I will not lose my willpower to win the war."

"You're really worth having on my side."

"You're on my side."

"No, this is my army."

"I talked them into fighting for you. I doubt you could do the same."

"You're good at lying; I'm good at finding evidence to support my claims."

"The best leaders are intelligent people who have endured awful experiences and are completely amoral. I have three out of three and you have one out of three."

"I'd rather be abandoned because of who I am than followed for who I'm not."

"I know, I know. You're the paragon of kings. I can sell that."

"So, what are you going to do about that letter?"

Azula examined it before dropping it into the fire. It popped loudly as it burnt to ashes and disappeared.

"That won't stop her from coming, you know?" Zuko said.

She did not give him an answer as she left him by the flames.

After he ate, he wandered back towards his tent. He was easily distracted and his eyes were drawn to every single fire, every single soldier. His ears perked up and took in scraps of conversation, mostly violent boasting.

Once he was inside of the center violet-stained tent of the encampment on the edge of the Si Wong, his gaze rested on a map. It had been scribbled on too many times and was discolored from age. The reason it still hung was because it was the most accurate one that could be found.

Most maps were decorated with the old world. A world untouched by the fires of Sozin's Comet. Things had changed since then. Some cities were gone; others had been built. Cartography was not exactly a common or lucrative practice.

This one was decent.

He walked to it and looked at the markers of the Horitsu. Iroh was with them, if any of the rumors were grounded in fact. Zuko had much to say to a man who enabled him to rebel and leave the Legion that would devour him.

When he pulled himself away from it and walked through another fabric flap, he saw her pretending to sleep. Or maybe _trying_ to sleep; he had no clue which. All he knew was that she was going to be beyond troubled due to the many matters that she had to deal with.

Prince Zuko fought the urge to poke her, which was inappropriately tempting, and went to go put his broadswords away and undress.

"Do you want me to turn the candles out so that we won't burn alive?"

She was silent and unmoving for a moment. "I won't burn alive. I _can't_ burn alive. Perhaps you can, with that scar…"

"I'm turning them out," he said, not bothering with her. She was too confident about fire. He was told he was good at firebending, and he could still feel the scorching pain and smell burnt flesh when he was reminded. He waved a hand. The candles died. "What are you hiding? You're not thrown off by anything as small as Ty Lee or a desert."

She did not respond easily to that. "I don't have to tell you anything I don't want to tell you."

"So, you're hiding it from me? Or do you just not trust me?"

"Both."

Zuko sighed. She was difficult and he was not in the mood for a challenge when he had the desert laid out before him.

"Zuko," Azula said softly, sparking concern within him. Perhaps he should not have asked. "Father got what he wanted."

Zuko grunted. "Why are you _never_ specific?"

He fumbled with the weathered ties on his shirt.

"Why did he make us marry?" Azula sat up and Zuko rolled his eyes. It was very much like her to make this into a _speech_.

"Because he's obsessed with power."

Azula pushed her point away momentarily. "Are we not?" she inquired. Her interest in his answer was genuine.

"I don't know." Zuko shrugged.

Azula stared at him through the shroud of shadows. "How did he think marrying us to each other could give him power?"

Zuko rubbed his forehead and managed to get his shirt off. He did not have the patience for this – until he realized she was being vague due to the fact she could not say it aloud. She felt uncomfortable with the words so she tried to pry them out of him.

She succeeded.

"You are both cryptic. . . and pregnant," said Zuko as he sat down at the foot of their bed. The furs tickled his hand as he toyed with them.

"Yes to both of those," Azula said. "We have the winning tile now. He thought he had claim to the crown because he had a daughter. . . and a son to marry her to. But it's not his now. It's ours and we can rally people around it."

"Fire people," Zuko added. It did not change Azula's mind on the matter. He sighed. "That _is_ a better gambit than anybody else seems to have. Unless someone produces the Avatar out of thin air, you have—we have—this."

"I forgot it was your worst fear," Azula chided.

"No. It's not. It was a fear and it was a fear that had good reason behind it. We should sleep. You especially, given this. . . condition," Zuko said.

She agreed with him, but they both knew that they would not be sleeping well tonight.


	2. Chapter 2

" _A bad word whispered echoes a hundred miles."_

* * *

 _ **The Lord of Ghosts**_

Fire Lord Azulon would daresay that he trusted the girl drinking tea with him in the palace gardens.

Betrayal was the source of all nightmares, and he was wary. The only fear he had about Ty Lee was her love for his granddaughter. Azula was twice a traitor and was far cleverer than her father, and perhaps even her uncle.

"You are going to meet her in the Scorched Lands," said Azulon, and Ty Lee was startled.

She was draped in silk and jewels, her braid the sole simple characteristic. Ty Lee was not born into her social status; she was raised in a farmhouse before the fields dried up and she moved to Caldera. Azula was responsible for Ty Lee's rise to power, and so Azulon did not blame her for retaining dangerous feelings.

He was the wisest of the five leaders, and he knew it.

"I am," Ty Lee admitted softly. She batted her eyelashes. Azulon imagined that worked on most men. Not him. He was too old. "She has used my resources for years and I'm sick of it. If she needs me so bad, I'm gonna go help her myself."

Azulon nodded. "You would do me a favor, correct?" he inquired.

"I don't think I can say no," Ty Lee said, her lips curled in a small smile.

"Report back to me. I have no spies in the Khatun, like I do in the Ires, Horitsu and Tribals. Azula and Zuko are quite new contenders," Azulon explained openly. Honesty was invaluable at the moment.

"I will," Ty Lee replied, also honestly. "I won't hurt her."

"I would not ask you to do that."

"Really?"

"It would make you flip sides, I am certain. You love my estranged granddaughter too much," said Azulon. "Spying, however, would not hurt anyone."

"Of course," Ty Lee said, although she did not believe him.

The creatures of the garden chirped and sang; the two humans were utterly silent.

 _ **The Kishiko Tribals**_

Katara woke on the morning of their collision with the Ires Legion and felt her throat constrict from fear. She was not supposed to feel fear, and so she felt shame. The baton was prematurely passed off to her and she hated holding it, but if she dropped it, she doomed her people.

She looked at her reflection in the water basin and realized something; they were never going to sack the Tent City. It was not going to happen. The Ires would send the best of the best to defend their capital. Katara could not offer a force that could overwhelm what she knew in her heart of hearts was waiting for them.

The thought occurred to her to try to put a stop to the collision that was coming.

It was not necessary to complete her father's plan. Hakoda fought his way through the Scorched Lands, all leading up to their planned assault on the Tent City. Katara wondered if he believed that they could do that. Perhaps he knew some secret that he could not pass on before his death.

Katara forced herself not to cry.

She had to be strong now.

She was the Chief of the Kishiko Tribals, and she was about to lead innocent people into a battle that they were certain to lose.

Was this war?

No. No, it could not be.

 _ **The Khatun Traitors**_

Zuko forgot about Azula's pregnancy for a few blissful moments in the morning. He had just woken and knew nothing but his own name and that the sunshine dripped through the canvas of his tent. Then Azula woke beside him, and the second he looked into her eyes, he remembered.

"Are you showing?" Zuko bluntly asked. He did not know if 'showing' was the proper word, but he had heard it before and thought he knew what it meant.

"Yes," said Azula with a somber expression. She reached down and rolled up her undershirt to reveal a small, smooth bump protruding from her stomach. "Does it bother you?"

He answered by hesitantly reaching forward and touching it. It did not feel strange and no wicked creature growled at him, nor did his baby kick. She was too early in the pregnancy for any of that to happen.

"What does this mean for u—for our cause?" He almost was foolish enough to say 'us.' No, things had to remain professional between him and his wife.

"It means we have an extra bid for the throne. Nothing more." Azula rolled the dirty cloth back down and slowly stood.

She dressed and left the tent while Zuko tried to comprehend how much his life had just changed.

He would have a _baby_ to take care of during a time of war.

He would have to face the fact that his father had treated him monstrously, and he could do the same to his own seed.

It was not a situation Zuko would wish on his worst enemy.

Slowly, he got up to go find food. He woke up starving; Azula never did. Zuko groomed himself and crushed his feelings about this baby deep inside of him, hiding them where no one could see it. Azula had hid it well enough; he could too.

He walked out of his tent, his home, and the sand instantly stung his eyes.

The camp was grim this morning. Something about the Si Wong Desert dampened spirits. Zuko sought water and found both a mug and a pitcher set out on a deserted table. He drank it too quickly, to the point that he felt nauseated, but the discomfort felt good.

Zuko had never been more confused in his life.

 _ **The Kishiko Tribals**_

The battlefield was smoky and muddy. It reeked of blood and death. Katara felt in a daze. She fought hard at the forefront of her people, her waterbending enough to take on ten men at once. Others in her tribe were less lucky. Others in the Ires Legion were less lucky.

Now, Katara walked around and saw that she had lost. The Ires Legion left the few remaining warriors standing on a field strewn with the dead. They were not advancing on the Legion anytime soon and Katara wanted to punch Bato in the face for suggesting that they try this attack.

She wandered among the bodies, looking for anyone she could heal. Katara saved a few young men and women, but that did not make a dent in the stacks that other warriors were dragging across the mud to stack and dispose of.

She heard a yelp, and a call for help. The boy could not be more than ten, and Katara knelt beside him. He wore Ires Legion armor, but Katara did not care. She took water from her pouch and sought out the wound.

It was then that Katara saw he could not be saved. There was nothing she could do.

"Are you gonna…?" It openly dawned on him that he could not be saved. Katara did not intend for her expression to be read that easily, but she could not change the reality of the moment.

In one quick move, Katara clutched the dying boy's hand tightly in hers. His was cold but hot with blood and hers was soaked with sweat. It was a combination Katara never wanted to feel.

"Don't worry," she said softly so that only the two of them could hear. "It'll all be over soon."

She could not save him. She tried to help everyone on this field with every fiber of her being, but some lives could not be saved. Water was not magic, unlike Sokka liked to tease. That boy was fading away as she looked him in the eyes.

Watching life fade from a person was indescribable. It tears the soul into pieces and makes the heart ache, and Katara was not exempt from that pain.

"Don't worry," she said again as he began to fret. "It'll all be over soon. Soon, I promise. Soon…"

He was gone before she could murmur the word again.

She stood and looked around at the corpses she could not cure.

Was this war?

Yes. Yes, it was.

 _ **The Ires Legion**_

"We won," Mai said tonelessly. She did not quite know what their people feared about the Kishiko Tribals. They would never reach the Tent City, no matter how many soldiers they threw in its general direction. Mai stood at the gates built from bloodshed and did not receive a hero's welcome.

Gutting barbaric attempts to destroy them was all in a day's work.

No one had ever successfully laid siege to a city that could be burnt to the ground in a day. Perhaps the Ires Legion _did_ have the best soldiers there were; it was not merely propaganda. They had seemed vulnerable, but Mai watched her soldiers slaughter the best warriors the Kishiko could offer. The attempt was almost pathetic.

Mai didn't use the bath that a slave drew for her; she went to the river that ran through Tent City. Her isolated sector was always untouched because it belonged to Ozai. He never went down here; no one did but Mai.

She undressed and dove into the ice cold water. The shock that reverberated through her body was welcome. For a moment, she waited, and then she swam to the surface and began to rub the battle from her pale skin in the shade of the trees that masked her from the world.

Mai found herself thinking about three long-gone people. People who asked her if she wanted to join them, and she said no. She never quite figured out why she denied Azula and Zuko, and she tried not to care about it. It was difficult to avoid thinking about them on days like these.

They were more likely than the Kishiko or the Horitsu to be the undoing of the Ires.

They were much more dangerous than everyone tried to pretend.

Yet, Mai was just as dangerous as people believe her to be, and that was enough to keep her sleeping soundly.

She resurfaced after a brief moment trying to untangle her hair and her eyes met someone else's.

That was new.

 _ **The Horitsu Militia**_

Sokka arrived at Omashu in the middle of the hot afternoon. He was drenched with sweat and his ostrich horse was exhausted, nigh dead, he thought. The greeting party was heavily armed and very unhappy about his arrival, but they did bring him water and help him through the walls after a brief questioning.

Once he was inside of the city, he took a few seconds to look around at a place with buildings that were not collapsible before remembering his task.

"When can I speak to General Iroh?" Sokka demanded of the soldier beside him.

The man somberly replied, "When he is ready for you. You will be pleased with your accommodations until then, we are certain."

Sokka was agape.

"Oh, yeah, because I traveled across the whole Scorched Lands to get _cozy in bed_ and _read a book_ ," snarled Sokka, but his words were useless.

This was marvelously futile.

"You are free to use our training grounds as well. Direct orders; most guests aren't allowed to do that," the soldier said, as if that was consolation of any sort. "Our very best fighters are there. Perhaps making friends would be in your best interest."

Sokka glowered.

 _ **The Khatun Traitors**_

The woman Azula was waiting for arrived at dusk. Ty Lee moved quickly, like a shadow, until she was at Azula's feet and she brightly embraced her. She then lit up her surroundings like a very cheery sun, drawing all nearby attention to her.

"I missed you more than I can even just ugh!" Ty Lee cried out, as if no one could hear them.

Perhaps Azula liked being treated like she was the only person in the entire world, but she did not want anyone to know the nature of her and Ty Lee's relationship. Azula's marriage to Zuko was vital in her method of controlling the barbarians and slaves she melded into an army.

"It is good to see you," Azula said softly. She gestured for Ty Lee to follow her, and she set out to gain privacy inside of her tent.

Ty Lee awkwardly smiled. "It's nice. I mean, it could use some decorating, but it's really beautiful."

"It's a filthy war tent, Ty Lee. Were you expecting me to have hired an interior decorator?" Azula snapped. Ty Lee suddenly remembered why she kind of hated Azula as much as she fervently loved her. "You should not have come."

"I did, though." Ty Lee shrugged and hugged Azula again.

Somehow, Ty Lee still smelled perfumey over the stench of sweat. It was a sickly combination that made Azula feel sick to her stomach. Oh, if she vomited in front of Ty Lee she would kill someone. So far Azula had evaded anyone noticing her illness, and she would like to keep it that way.

"Get off of me," Azula ordered. Ty Lee obeyed, but not without a concerned glance. She covered it up with a soft smile.

"Let's catch up," chimed Ty Lee with no awareness of her dark surroundings. "Tell me all about your baby."

Azula tried to hide her disgusted shock. "About my what? Do you see a baby, Ty Lee?" Azula smoothly replied. No one could see through that. _No one_.

Ty Lee did, however. She smiled knowingly.

"Oh, come on. You know what I do for a living. I'm not stupid," Ty Lee said.

"Well, that took you five minutes to figure out," Azula thought aloud. She was not sure if she should be angry or impressed. Both, she thought. "You will not speak of it to anyone."

"My lips are sealed." Ty Lee sat down on Azula's bed and crossed her legs. It felt like a slumber party, which was completely inappropriate for the Dragon Queen. "You didn't seem so ready for me."

"I was hoping you would get lost on your way," Azula joked bitterly. She shifted her weight from foot to foot due to the discomfort. Ty Lee still was beautiful, if in a more adult fashion.

"I almost did. Oh! I'll tell you all about it! So, I started in the Fire Nation…"

Azula tuned out the moment Ty Lee began blathering about the furnishings of her cabin.

It was going to be a long and frivolous story.


	3. Chapter 3

_"_ _In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity."_

* * *

 ** _The Lord of Ghosts_**

Fire Lord Azulon watched a much younger man push tiles around on a stone map.

The Four Factions had been at war for a very long time, and things were constantly changing. It was not a steady and simple war like the one Sozin won.

Sozin. . .

"The comet will decide the victor," said the Fire Lord. The War Minister stopped trying to track the motions of the Kishiko and looked up. "None of their little battles matter. Only Sozin's Comet will make a difference."

"Your highness, the comet is still a year away. Things change. . . quickly in this fight," said the War Minister confidently.

The sudden knock on the door was more important than talk of Sozin's Comet. One of the two soldiers at the door opened it and in came a scrawny girl. She was a messenger, and a good one at that. Her bow was deep and prolonged the tense silence in the war room.

"I have the letter you asked for," she said, standing and walking to set it on the table.

She nervously waited to be dismissed, and vanished as soon as she was.

A young general daringly picked up the letter and handed it to the Fire Lord. Azulon opened it and studied the curly, feminine handwriting.

"Things do change quickly in this fight, War Minister Chin," said Azulon. "According to my informant, the Khatun are retreating into the Si Wong, and my granddaughter is pregnant."

The war never failed to be interesting.

 ** _The Khatun Traitors_**

"Are you in love with her?" asked Zuko.

Azula looked at him with a small smile, suppressing laughter.

They were inside of their closed tent, a few miles into the vast Si Wong Desert. She was exhausted; he wanted pointless answers from his wife. Azula was amused, but not pleased.

"I don't _love_ anyone," she said. "I don't even love my own parents, and you know that very well. I certainly don't love her, or you, or any of the followers I claim to love." She stopped speaking and smirking. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I'm curious," he replied. It was evidently more than curiosity, but Azula had no reason to question him further. He did not matter. He was a means to an end, and nothing more.

Azula shifted her position on the raised bedroll. "Are you concerned she'll steal me?"

"No. You need me to get the throne, and you need me to be your romantic interest in order to use your baby as leverage," said Zuko without hesitation or emotion. They both knew that their relationship was not romantic nor familial, but symbiotic.

"You are slightly smarter than you look," Azula said. "I am also starving and you will find me food and my missing girlfriend. I don't like her just walking around our camp."

"Out of fear for her safety?"

"Out of fear for her _friends_. I can't imagine she is keeping any secrets and I can imagine how many people she could be reporting to."

"If you think she's a spy, why let her stay with us?"

"My reasons are my own."

"You think she's attractive," Zuko said, jealousy simmering within him.

"She has helped us significantly over the years and her debt to me is very useful." Azula studied her nails and waited for Zuko to leave, but he did not move a muscle. " _Yes_ , I think she is attractive. Is that what you need to hear?"

"Yes," Zuko said. He sighed and walked into the camp to find food.

 ** _The Ires Legion_**

"You almost scared me," said Mai. She did not leave the water, even if it was someone who had seen her naked on multiple occasions.

"Almost?" inquired the leader of the Ires Legion, a man as much a traitor as his two children.

"I'm not scared easily," Mai said coolly, meeting his gaze without fear. She lacked an appropriate level of humility, but perhaps she had earned her overconfidence. The tattoos on her arm were a testament to her prowess.

"No. No, you're not." He waited for her to resurface. "You also are still slightly bloody, and clearly overdressed for dinner with me."

She sunk under the water again; she did not want to smile.

 ** _The Kishiko Tribals_**

Katara rose from the water and looked up at the night sky. A thousand diamonds glittered above with swaths of pitch black knitting them together. The moon drew her attention.

Legends of the Water Tribe told that the moon was the first waterbender. Legends of the Earth Kingdom told that the moon was a rock launched into the sky by their creator spirit. Legends of the Fire Nation told that the moon was a second sun, banished by Agni to the cold night, where it lost its flames.

Katara had no idea what the Air Nomads thought of it.

She could not help but wonder from time to time. They were the unwilling spark that ignited the world, erased from the planet and replaced with conflict after conflict.

Maybe legends in the future would say that the Air Nomads were the incarnation of peace, and their obliteration left the world forever consuming itself in ceaseless wars.

Katara leaves her bath but still feels dirty. The battlefield did not test the strength of her bending, but the strength of her stomach. She failed.

Her tribe wanted to know their next step. Katara wondered if there even was one. She could not stand to watch more of her people die on a scorched earth.

When they asked her that evening around the bonfire, she gave her answer.

"We are returning to the Southern Water Tribe."

For once, no one argued. Katara was their Chief, and they would follow her to a land of snow and ice without question.

 ** _The Khatun Traitors_**

A scream woke Prince Zuko from a deep sleep.

He sat straight up and studied the shadowy room around him. The search was inconclusive before he saw Azula get up and stagger away. Zuko considered returning to his cozy slumber, but decided against it. After coughing up an unhealthy amount of sand, he pushed himself to his feet and walked through the tent flap to find her.

Zuko squinted in the darkness. The faint wind that penetrated the tent stung his eyes as he looked for her. At last, he found his sister knelt beneath the map pinned to the wall. She looked like something out of a nightmare, more shadow than human, and silent.

"What's wrong?" he inquired, kneeling beside her. She did not reply. "Are you okay?"

"Stop asking!" she snapped vehemently. "It was just a dream. . ."

It did not feel like a dream to Princess Azula; it was a vivid nightmare of blood and dragons. When she woke, she thought she was free—until she saw the claw marks on her waist. They did not fade; they were not hallucinations.

She saw that they were from her own nails when she saw the dried blood crusted beneath them, but whatever made her dig that deep into her own flesh unsettled her to the core. Her nightmares had escalated over the past two months, and now they were reaching their peak. Or at least she _hoped_ they were.

Azula left Zuko and went to find Ty Lee. That would be an easier conversation, and she needed to do something about the bloody marks she gave herself.

Ty Lee was fast asleep in her own private tent. Azula invited herself in and kicked her pet gently on the ribs. That woke the girl in a heartbeat.

"Gaahhh!" she yelped, frantically looking around before her eyes settled on Princess Azula. Ty Lee composed herself and caught her breath. "What can I do for you, princess?"

Azula smirked at her. Ty Lee looked up at the shadowy figure with pure love in her eyes, and Azula knew at that moment that the debt was meaningless; Ty Lee would do anything for her, those five gold pieces or not.

"Help me dress these wounds," Azula ordered, stripping off her undershirt. Ty Lee sucked in a deep breath when she saw the torn flesh.

"What animal did that?" Ty Lee whispered, standing up and rummaging for spark rocks. Azula lit the two lanterns for her with a single sweep of her wrist.

"I did it. With my nails, that is," Azula says, poking at one of the marks and wincing.

Ty Lee reached out and took Azula's hand in hers. "Please don't hurt yourself, princess."

" _Queen_ , Ty Lee. I am the Dragon Queen, not my father's pretty pretty princess," Azula said.

Ty Lee murmured a few words of apology as she searched her tent for the little first aid kit with which she had traveled.

"Dragon Queen does sound more _you_. You're way too formidable to be a princess," Ty Lee said, smiling. The chiaroscuro cast by lamplight danced on her pretty face. "Although, I think you deserve a better title."

"Yes?" Azula asked. Ty Lee found what she was looking for and began laying out her supplies.

"Just Queen. _The_ Queen. Of _everything_ in this world and all of the others," Ty Lee said and Azula loved how _honest_ it was.

"Do you want to be _the_ Queen?"

"No. I would. . ." Ty Lee hesitated. "I would love to be _your_ Queen, though."

It was a risk that did not reap a reward. Azula snapped her fingers at the bandages and salve and their conversation ended.

Azula had only one true love: the crown.

 ** _The Ires Legion_**

Ozai nearly killed the messenger for interrupting his dinner. He stayed his hand, however, and waited for the young boy to speak. Mai looked up at him, which did not help his nervous shaking and profuse sweating.

"I have a letter," the messenger said, holding out a sealed envelope.

The wax was slightly deformed by the hot sun.

He tore it open and read its contents. After a few moments, he frowned bitterly and burned the parchment to ashes.

"Bad news?" Mai asked and he did not speak. "Very bad news."

They did not say a word for the remainder of their dinner.

That night, however, Ozai was less in a livid shock and Mai was no less interested in the message. He knew he would have to tell her eventually; it might as well be now.

"My daughter is pregnant," he said and Mai cocked an eyebrow. "That is a problem. _That_ helps their cause by tenfold. She and Zuko were meant to have a baby of dragon blood, the first in centuries, but then they ran off."

Mai set her hand on his shoulder. "Unless she gives birth to a literal dragon, we have nothing to fear. It will only make them weaker and easier to dominate."

Ozai was not convinced, and she felt the need to remedy that.

She kissed him _hard_ on the lips.

 ** _The Horitsu Militia_**

Sokka finished shouting at the guard delaying his meeting with General Iroh yet again and heard footsteps behind him. He turned around, blinked several times, and wondered who the little kid was.

He noticed how she never met his eyes. She was facing him as if they were having a normal conversation, but she was not looking at him, per se. He found it unnerving and odd, until he realized that she must be blind. Her eyes had the look of an old woman who lost her vision.

"You don't have to have whiny outbursts just to prove how tough you are," said Toph. "It kind of does the exact opposite of what you want."

"It wasn't a whiny outburst. It was rightful loud-speaking to make sure my point was heard," Sokka argued. His brutal tone that worked so well on his fellow Kishiko soldiers made the blind girl laugh. He had known her for mere seconds and thought he already despised her.

"If ya say so," replied Toph. She shrugged. "You must be the Kishiko. I'm supposed to start your training or something."

"You're the. . . you're _Toph_?" he asked, scratching his head.

"Yup. Who'd you think I was?" she said.

"I was. . . expecting. . . uh, someone taller," said Sokka before clearing his throat.

"Someone less blind and less female, you mean," Toph bluntly replied. "It's fine, it's fine. Guys with big egos like yours hate getting beaten by a blind girl. Your self-defense is pathetic, but I get it."

Sokka now _knew_ he already despised her.

 ** _The Khatun Traitors_**

Azula had not slept in three days as they crossed the desert. No sandy and sweltering encampment was comfortable enough, and the baby within her was very, very prematurely attacking her insides. The pregnancy troubled her, but she had to focus on crossing this wasteland.

In the throes of exhaustion, she fell from her tiger-horse. Zuko did not move as quickly as Ty Lee, and he hated the former prostitute for it. Ty Lee picked Azula up and kissed her cheek before the Dragon Queen shoved Ty Lee out of her way.

Azula was about to mount her tiger-horse again when she saw something glimmering in the distance. It had to be a mirage; Azula had heard about hallucinations in this dead land.

"Do you see that?" Azula asked her brother.

"One of the Sand Cities? Yes," Zuko replied.

Ty Lee offered Azula help, but Azula again brushed her off and climbed onto her steed. She could better see what lay ahead of her from this height.

Sand Cities. There were many of them in the Si Wong, but Azula put little thought into them. Sandbenders were pathetic and far from a threat; all they wanted was trade and new sets of teeth.

Azula realized something. Amidst the chaos caused by her flight from the Scorched Lands, there was an opportunity. More soldiers, more supplies, real fortresses.

"How much do you think it is worth?" Azula asked, not letting on to her idea too quickly.

"Depends on if it's a trading hub or just a community," Zuko said.

"Send someone to find out, because I want it," Azula said plainly. "I want that fucking city and I will get it because I always get what I want. This is what I train armies for, is it not?"


	4. Chapter 4

_"_ _Leave the second guessing to the historians."_

* * *

 ** _The Lord of Ghosts_**

Fire Lord Azulon knew the pregnancy of his granddaughter would be trouble. His family went ages upon ages without a legitimate heir, and perhaps that was good for them.

His closest advisor stood before him, holding sealed rolls of parchment that arrived by messenger hawk. He gave reports less attractively than his lovely lost spy Ty Lee, but Azulon valued the information no matter from where it came.

He opened the routine meeting with news of Azula's pregnancy. In Azulon's opinion, it would make any news pale in comparison, even if his son or grandson or other enemies stood on grand steel ships with two thousand soldiers in front of the gates named for him.

"Ozai is battling the Kishiko still. Their two armies hardly can stay apart."

"Is that supposed to be fresh or new or helpful?" Azulon coldly said, rising and setting his knuckles softly on the smooth stone table. "I want intimate details. I want to know more and I do not want old news. Do you understand me?"

"Ozai is making plans to track down Azula and Zuko, and take them. I have a few notes but it seems to be his closest guarded project," said the advisor, an anxious glint in his yellow eyes.

" _That_ is worth telling me about," said Azulon. "I imagine he cares very much about the child. If he reclaimed her as his heir he would have a significant claim to the throne. It is what they all want, after all, even the remnants of the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes."

"Is there any action that ought to be taken, your eminence?" inquired the advisor, setting down the parchment and narrowing his attention.

Azulon nodded and gave it a few moments thought. He looked around at his city, a world in soft decay. He easily imagined one of the factions pouring in, executing a successful siege.

"I want them dead. I want them all dead. I want Ozai and his wife dead, I want Azula and her baby dead, I want Zuko dead, and I want proof. I want a bloody desk marred with trophies taken from their corpses and an unborn child cut from—"

His advisor unwisely interrupted. "Your—your highness—it may be unwise to sever the last possible hope for your bloodline."

The Lord of Ghosts calmly stated what his father told him time and time again.

"Leave the second guessing to the historians."

 ** _The Khatun Traitors_**

The night before the planned conquest of the desired sand city, the two leaders of the Khatun could not sleep. Azula stared at the fire and forced it to flicker blue. Zuko was inside of their tent, tossing and turning. Ty Lee approached the Dragon Queen and offered her a cup of tea. Azula accepted it silently.

"You're gonna be tired tomorrow," Ty Lee whispered, sitting down close to her former lover.

"I am strong enough with or without sleep. Do you not have any faith in me?" Azula asked, knowing that the last sentence would quell any of Ty Lee's objections.

"Your brother doesn't seem to," Ty Lee said quietly.

"I have been thinking about that more than I want to be. I am…" Azula decided not to divulge her plans, even though Ty Lee patiently awaited them. "I need him until this baby is born. Maybe a little longer than that. You know that I cannot keep him if I want the throne."

"What about sharing?" Ty Lee asked innocently, making Azula's lips twitch.

Azula took a deep breath, inhaling sweet smoke.

"My brother had a knife once. Well, he still has plenty, but this one was of sentimental value. He had this knife and I wanted it so desperately. I dropped it into the ocean. My brother had a set of wooden soldiers once. He would not let me play with them. I burned them all. My brother had a pet turtleduck once. He would not let me pet it. I killed it with a rock."

"What does that mean?"

"It means, Ty Lee, that my brother and I are not very good at sharing." Azula kissed the girl in order to avoid more questions. "I want you to do me a favor."

"Anything," Ty Lee replied eagerly.

"Sleep with my brother."

Ty Lee, agape, stared at Azula. The girl she had loved since childhood among the tents of the Ires never failed to surprise her. However, Azula never failed to think ahead in a way Ty Lee could not comprehend. It was probably a good plan, Ty Lee thought.

"Why would you want me to do that?" Ty Lee asked, pausing between each word.

"I always have a plan," Azula said. Ty Lee could not argue with that. "Just trust me and everything will work out. Doesn't it always?"

Ty Lee knew Azula was right, but she was not sure if she had a happy ending in Azula's latest scheme. Usually, she was used by the former princess, and did not gain much from the end results.

Yet, Ty Lee did not have a choice; Azula would get her way somehow, as she always did.

"I guess I can do that for you," Ty Lee said. Zuko was indeed handsome. She found him hot and would not deny him if she did not love Azula so dearly.

"Good." Azula smiled at her.

It was a very wicked smirk that gave Ty Lee gooseflesh.

 ** _The Ires Legion_**

At dawn, when firebenders woke but Mai was still exhausted, the leaders of the Ires Legion gathered in the tent of Ozai, the man they all wanted to see on the throne. Mai stood across from him, over the tattered map with stone markers representing the other factions resting atop it.

"Azula and Zuko are in the scorched lands. I know we were preparing our soldiers to capture another Horitsu Colony, but with… certain news about my former children, we need to strike them as soon as possible. They are in the Scorched Lands, and they believe themselves to be untouchable thanks to the desert. They assume only a fool would send an army across it, but if their little band of mercenaries and traitors could do it, my well-trained legion can."

"It would be better to infiltrate than meet them in a battle. They are strong on an open field, which is how they've made it so far. But if we can knock them off of their balance, we can put them in a position of weakness. Then strike from the outside," declared Mai, speaking out of turn.

She knew what that same action did to Zuko, back when four children were young and stupid. She also knew that Ozai did not learn from his mistakes; he was under the impression he made none.

That was why Mai was far better at war than her husband.

Better at war than Azula would ever be; Princess Azula was a know it all who did not know her limits and that was a dangerous thing to be.

"And how exactly would that be done? My daughter is too smart to not see through it."

"If I went, and if June," said Mai, as much as she hated to say it, "if June gathered her old mercenary friends, we could easily look like traitors. Easily look like the rest of their 'army.'"

"She is my daughter, and I doubt she will believe you. I know her. I made her."

"Yes, you made her, which is why I know her better than you. No child tells the truth to their parents. No father knows his daughter as well as he thinks he does, even a king."

Ozai hesitated. "I don't want to waste you or June."

"We will be far from wasted. If anything, we are the most qualified to tear an army apart from the inside, and stand up against Azula. They may revere her and her lies, but I certainly don't. I played cartwheels with her. I know she is no goddess."

He knew she had a point, as much as he loathed it. To sabotage Azula and then catch her by surprise with a powerful army would be a novel strategy. It was one never favored by the Ires Legion. They had a superior military compared to any other faction they fought, and always met their enemies on an open field. Infiltration was unexpected, which perhaps meant it was wise.

"Fine," coolly said Ozai, trying not to glare at his wise as he spoke. "Put together the mission for me and if I like it, I will approve it. But even then, if I have any second thoughts—"

Mai said calmly, "You told me once to leave the second guessing to the historians."

And so, it was decided.

 ** _The Horitsu Militia_**

When Sokka first met Toph, he decided he hated her. Then he thought he ought to reconsider and give her a second chance. Yet, within a very short period of time, he discovered he was right to despise his Commander, if one could call such a renegade that.

She had no regard for the rules, no desire to be _wise_ about warfare, and was unreasonable tough on the troops. It was easy for her, therefore she made a poor teacher and a dreadful leader. Power at bending alone was not enough to qualify someone for a position of command.

Sokka, however, was better than her and did not voice those angry thoughts. He had respect for those above him and knew he would only get the best assignments if he played along with the Horitsu. He wanted to _fight_ the Fire Nation factions. He did not want to sit through another day of training, since he knew very well that the Kishiko were much better at fighting than the Horitsu could ever dream to be.

"I'm scouting ahead," stated Toph one morning. Sokka groggily sipped his tea and devoured his breakfast at a speed that mildly impressed the earthbender. "We know the Ires are mobilizing for an attack, and it'll probably be against us. So, I'm gonna check it out. If my hunch is right, I want you on my small little team."

She stood.

"You're leaving _now_?" Sokka asked with his mouth full, baffled by her.

People should _warn_ him about these things. There should be… He did not know.

"Yeah. You're in charge of my squad until I'm back. Keep putting them through the wringer because they're all weak as fuck," stated Toph cavalierly.

Sokka blinked.

"I… wasn't expecting you to…"

"Put such a selfish, overconfident idiot in charge of my forces?"

Sokka bristled and bared his teeth. Through his clenched jaw, he snarled, "No. I just thought you didn't like me."

"I don't, but I'm making do with what I got." She left without another word.

Sokka could not say he was polite either, but he was offended that she just started walking out on him without paying him a respectful goodbye.

"Good luck, uh, Commander!" said Sokka, angrily calling after her.

"I don't need luck," replied Toph, glancing over her shoulder at him. "I have earthbending."

The moment the Commander was out of sight, Sokka ground his teeth, rolled his eyes and returned to scarfing down two servings of his unappealing breakfast.

He was Kishiko through and through, but he was pretty fucking excited about his first mission with the Horitsu.

Sokka was born a warrior; he needed to fight in order to be happy.

 ** _The Kishiko Tribals_**

Katara at last announced the stop for the night. Her tribe was on its way to the South Pole, on her orders—orders many openly opposed—and it sometimes felt as if they would never make it. She was tired, sweating, sitting down on a rock unable to even focus on waterbending, unable to even take a few deep breaths and calm down.

She was a good leader, but she never wanted to be one.

"Two weeks. You can carry us for two weeks," said Yue, sitting down beside her.

"Can I?" Katara's cobalt eyes glistened in the moonlight as she gazed up, almost pleadingly at the heavens above her. "I don't know if I can make it through tonight."

Yue set her hand on Katara's shoulder and squeezed.

"We believe in your thoughts about the Avatar. We believe in you. Please trust yourself," Yue stated softly.

Katara wanted to argue, but she also saw the pure kindness in her companion's soft expression. Therefore, she sighed and submitted to duty.

The Universe gave the waterbender no other choice.

 ** _The Ires Legion_**

After three weeks travel, the Ires Legion reached the Scorched Lands. They remained at the precipice, a grand camp of the best soldiers to leave the Fire Nation or join the cruelest faction in hopes of being spared.

At the moment, Mai was searching for her brother, mentally cursing the abysmal, deadly heat that made her sweat—she _hated_ sweating—and contemplating the fact that this was where the army ended. She was going to enter that desert with forty men and women and somehow convince the most terrifying human she had ever met that she was on her side.

She did not find her brother; she found her unlikely companion in this quest.

"Is there something you need?" Mai dryly asked of June.

June paused, thinking about how to properly set this up. It would take finesse.

"Can you talk and dance at the same time?" asked a friendly enemy.

Mai cracked her knuckles.

"Depends on what you mean by dance," she replied.

"I guess you don't know anything about _context clues_." June had to stop herself from winking. She could not afford to look so weak and foolish.

Mai slowly rose and watched June smirk, as if she had already won. It almost made Mai happy to know she was about to knock someone smug back into their place.

They made their plan of attack while throwing punches.

It was a newfound way to tolerate each other, but it left its marks. When Mai returned home to her husband, he glanced up from maps to examine her closely as he always did.

She stepped towards him, loathing the heat of the sand beneath her thin shoes.

"You have a bruise." Ozai lifted two rough fingers to touch it, making soft contact at the throbbing surface. Mai slowly lifted her own hand and took his in hers.

"Not my last today," she said, taking a breath and deciding to dive right into her scheme.

Ozai almost laughed at her remark. "Not your last today? Are you planning on starting a fight with someone?"

Mai softly demanded, "Hit me."

Mockingly, the pretender to the throne asked, "Is that an order?"

" _Please_ , hit me," corrected Mai, gazing directly into his golden eyes.

"And why would I do that?"

"Because I'm going to sell this to Azula. I'm going to be standing in front of her in about two or three days and I don't think she'll accept me very easily."

He thought about it for a few moments and then obliged. She exhaled as his fist made contact. They wove backwards, to the side, landing on her like June only did thrice.

Mai took a breath and pleaded, "Burn me."

He was far more reserved about that than a few blows for a good cause. It was something permanent, and she had to know that.

She extended her wrists, but did not say a word or physically prompt any action. Mai was certain she could rely on his hunger for power and how it outweighed any false notions of honor. They were not in love, were they? He had little reason to protect her.

"You are dedicated; I will give you that. I think it is the first time I have seen you care enough about something."

"I care a lot about not getting killed, especially by Azula. I'm not a fan of being struck by lightning," Mai explained, keeping the pain out of her voice.

He seized her wrists wordlessly and Mai swallowed a scream.

It made her pity Zuko. Maybe it made her understand Zuko, and why he abandoned her with Azula. Why Ty Lee ran off to the Fire Nation, a sour taste in her mouth after that fateful Agni Kai between a father and his young son.

The pain was agonizing enough on her wrists; she could not imagine it on her face.

Ozai pulled back once he was satisfied with the marks he left. She did look worn. He noticed the dark circles under her eyes for the first time, and wondered how long they had been there. Ozai brushed it off almost immediately; he saw no need to be concerned about her. He had a war to fight.

Mai sat down, almost crippled by the pain, but keeping her face expressionless.

"I'm ready for this," she said, hoping it would be encouragement enough.

Ozai made no comment.

 ** _The Khatun Traitors_**

Zuko walked through the halls of what the sand city called its 'palace.' Compared to where he spent his childhood, he had to say this looked more like a particularly well-groomed hovel. His sister strode beside him, shadows dancing on her ivory skin.

"Do you love Ty Lee?" Zuko asked uneasily.

Azula scoffed and demanded, "Why does that matter?"

"Why can you never just answer questions?" Zuko growled. "It's slippery."

Azula smiled wickedly. She replied in a regal manner, "Because I am the Dragon Queen. I do not _need_ to answer questions. I have every right to be _slippery_."

Disgruntled, Zuko snapped, "And I'm your husband. The father of your child."

Azula laughed, almost cackling. It stoked the enraged fire in his chest, but he did not let it consume him this time.

"So? Is that supposed to mean something?" Azula watched his bitter, angry expression for a few moments. "You slept with her. I can see it in your eyes."

She smirked. Her plans always did work out in the end.

Zuko, flushed and uncomfortable, took a breath.

"Yeah. I… was concerned that would upset you," he said, rubbing his neck with his tense, trembling, damp fingers.

Azula gave a dramatic shrug. He watched, the side of his lip twitching in mild anger.

"I don't love her," said Azula. "I never did. It doesn't bother me what you two do."

Zuko said in utter earnest, as he always did ( _such a poor liar,_ thought Azula), "She loves you. She loves you more than she loves anything else."

"More than her hair?" Azula kept walking.

Zuko stood behind, watching her leave.

"Obviously more than her hair," he grumbled, but she was gone.

A sweet voice chirped from the doorway, "Whose hair? I got my braid tangled so bad last night."

Zuko blushed. Azula clenched her fists and tried to hide her virulent jealousy; she _did_ ask Ty Lee to do it, after all.

"What is it?" Azula demanded as Ty Lee strode forward. She looked rattled, despite her cavalier comments about her signature hairstyle.

"Someone is here. She— _they_ are at the gates. It's more mercenaries who want to join you. I bet they saw how we captured this city and got, like, so into it."

"Then put them to work. Why should I be involved? Do they need a speech?" Azula demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. Ty Lee took a small breath.

"It's their… their leader. It's Mai, Azula, it's Mai."

The silence stretched for a thousand years until Zuko at last broke it.

He saw how his sister's eyes sparkled. Weakness. For the first time since they ran from the Ires Legion, he saw weakness in her.

Zuko stated, gently grabbing Azula's arm, "She could be asking for battle. She could mean father's forces are just out of sight. The whole Ires Legion. I don't know if we can take the Ires."

Azula laughed, and Zuko wanted for the third time today to simply throttle her. "Brother mine, I have no clue why you think I would fail. We won this city, did we not?"

"I…" Zuko took a few moments to collect his thoughts. "I believe you, I guess. Or, at least, I believe that you believe… and maybe that is enough."

It was not. Not for him, not for anyone, but he knew a disagreement with his sister would be terrible for morale, their relationship and the fate of their incredibly important child. Maybe he was at last becoming wiser, if only by a slight margin.

"I will speak to her," said Azula. "Ty Lee, brief me."

"She said she needed to run. She said her brother's dead because of your dad and that… well, she's got some bad scars. I believe her," said Ty Lee.

"You aren't very smart, though. Why should I trust you?" Azula asked.

"I dunno. It's up to you, but I think I can see why she would leave. I think he hurt her bad. She stole some mercs from him and… Haven't we been waiting for her? I have," said Ty Lee. "I wanted her to conquer her fears, and, without her brother…I don't think he has power over her."

"Very astute," remarked Azula, batting her eyelashes.

Zuko felt suddenly sick.

"You can't go into this negotiation already planning to let her in."

"I can do what I please. I am the Dragon Queen."

"Azula," growled Zuko, "maybe we should think twice about trusting father's wife."

Slowly, Azula turned to him and coldly stated, "I have made my decision, brother."

" _Unmake it_ ," Zuko demanded.

With a small, smug smirk he wanted to wipe from her face, she shook her head. Azula turned away from him as she echoed famed words of their ancestors.

"Leave the second guessing to the historians."


End file.
